Cosher and the Sea

On the south coast of England, a ten-year-old boy waits after school for his older friend, Cosher, to come along the road on his way home. If Cosher comes, they might go together to Cosher's shed and look at his collection of objects from the war- bits of metals, scraps of printed material, cartridges, and airplane pictures. The boy observes that they only talk now about how they once added to the collection, and the games they played during the war. Now the soldiers, tanks, and mines are gone. Cosher eventually comes with the news that the beach at Chandler's Corner is open. (It has been closed since the younger boy was three.) The younger boy runs ahead and joins a group of boys his age, with whom he plays on the beach and in the sea. He then refuses to go off with the older boys when they call him.